7.10.13

Halloween, I loathe it ...or do I?

Yes yes I'm old and grumpy.

You knew that.

So of course I don't like Halloween. I don't like that people of various religions try and claim it as theirs, or declare it is certainly not theirs, 'because it's evil'. I dislike superstition. I don't like that it's become a huge festival so that if you don't have a party or go to a party* then you are some how a party pooper and no fun. And that now not content with taking turnip lanterns and making softy pumpkin lanterns (it takes a real man to carve a 'neep!) the American influence is such that we have to have 'Trick or Treating' instead of souling (and souling sounds pretty superstitious) AND trick or treating has just become a demand for money with menaces in some places to such an extent that people put up posters provided by the Police to scare you away - now THAT is party pooping. But then terrorising old folk is pretty poopish behaviour too. /rant

That said, I love dressing up, I do go to parties (if I'm lucky enough to be invited) and I arm my house with treats in case a small and cutely dressed child should call (they rarely do, it's usually a scruffy teen in a hoodie wearing a 10p mask with his hand out demanding a quid) but here we are at another thing I hate - it's cheap crappy sweets. 10p bags of sodding jelly sweets, gummy eyeballs, handfuls of Roses chocolates, and on and on into a diabetic coma or candy delights so sweet and sickly that Willy Wonka cries ENOUGH!

So this year I plan my treats to be of the non edible variety (I'd actually love to give apples and satsumas but I fear the wrath of the hoodies) I'm thinking of the sorts of tat you get in a party bag. Bouncy balls, key rings, pirate eye patches, sparkly rings, yoyos and the like. I don't know if we will even get anyone call, I'm not the sort of house to advertise in the way of polystyrene graves on the lawn, a wreath of bones and a vampire at the door, and our street has very few children in it - but it's well to be prepared I think.

So maybe I don't loathe Halloween at all, maybe I loathe the pressure to have the perfect Halloween, to have fun, whether you want to or not. And the sweets, I do hate the sweets.

What are you planning? 'Traditional'? Modern? Party or going Trick or Treating? A trip to a scary movie or just a night in like every night. Love it or loathe it Halloween is coming!